FCA vs 2021 Gladiator: Refusal to honor parts/labor warranty.

[Dilly’S Willy]

I posted a couple months ago how I was going to the dealer who "repaired" the door seals, hood, all 4 doors, and the tailgate. I got the vehicle back at night with minimal lighting in their lot, the asst manager stayed so I could pick up after work knowing I lived about an hour or so away. It was also a cold, but dry wintery day for the record.

Fast forward to a couple weeks ago and I'm going the the same carwash I have since August last year, but now my front doors are leaking way worse than previously. I took video which I'll include, it's not pretty.

Fast forward to a couple days ago when we had hurricane type rains and flooding everywhere (my 8 acres became a creek completely overflowing, and we don't normally have flowing water above ground either). As I'm driving home in the rain that evening, every time I use the brakes, it's like someone turned on a hose into my front doors. I guarantee I took in at least 1/2 gal of water over 30 minutes of driving. My floor still has standing water in the carpets but won't drain/evaporate due to us having high humidity (3/4 of the year it rains/snows).

I called FCA while this was happening and they tried to tell me "your vehicle has never been physically in our dealer since you claimed you are the owner, and we've been trying to contact the person we have on file as the owner since we don't have you on file as the owner. Also you're vehicle is not under warranty so we can't help you".

They have no records of the dealer repairs this year, and continue to claim I'm not the owner, or have ever been to any dealers, or have a warranty which I do and multiple dealers have confirmed.


@JeepCares Is this reasonable? I need help as FCA is refusing to honor their parts/labor warranty to guarantee their work. I gave them my vehicle for failed repairs and they made those failed repair 10x worse. Now they're refusing to even work with me in a timely manner, and combined with my work schedule and their ridiculous requirement of leaving my ONLY vehicle with them for an unknown time, time they won't even be working on it or have parts to do said work while it's there...this is just not okay or LEGAL. They're violating their own T&C and federal laws. I don't have any mechanical issues but I COULD invoke the lemon law, but I really don't want to do that over leaking door due to multiple failed repair attempts by the SAME dealer, and failure to correct their other mistakes regard the body panels.

Here's the previous video from the leaks after having seals warrantied a couple months ago. This was before the rain we had I mentioned above.

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[MaximusTX]

I posted a couple months ago how I was going to the dealer who "repaired" the door seals, hood, all 4 doors, and the tailgate. I got the vehicle back at night with minimal lighting in their lot, the asst manager stayed so I could pick up after work knowing I lived about an hour or so away. It was also a cold, but dry wintery day for the record.

Fast forward to a couple weeks ago and I'm going the the same carwash I have since August last year, but now my front doors are leaking way worse than previously. I took video which I'll include, it's not pretty.

Fast forward to a couple days ago when we had hurricane type rains and flooding everywhere (my 8 acres became a creak completely overflowing, and we don't normally have flowing water above ground either). As I'm driving home in the rain that evening, every time I use the brakes, it's like someone turned on a hose into my front doors. I guarantee I took in at least 1/2 gal of water over 30 minutes of driving. My floor still has standing water in the carpets but won't drain/evaporate due to us having high humidity (3/4 of the year it rains/snows).

I called FCA while this was happening and they tried to tell me "your vehicle has never been physically in our dealer since you claimed you are the owner, and we've been trying to contact the person we have on file as the owner since we don't have you on file as the owner. Also you're vehicle is not under warranty so we can't help you".

They have no records of the dealer repairs this year, and continue to claim I'm not the owner, or have ever been to any dealers, or have a warranty which I do and multiple dealers have confirmed.


@JeepCares Is this reasonable? I need help as FCA is refusing to honor their parts/labor warranty to guarantee their work. I gave them my vehicle for failed repairs and they made those failed repair 10x worse. Now they're refusing to even work with me in a timely manner, and combined with my work schedule and their ridiculous requirement of leaving my ONLY vehicle with them for an unknown time, time they won't even be working on it or have parts to do said work while it's there...this is just not okay or LEGAL. They're violating their own T&C and federal laws. I don't have any mechanical issues but I COULD invoke the lemon law, but I really don't want to do that over leaking door due to multiple failed repair attempts by the SAME dealer, and failure to correct their other mistakes regard the body panels.

I set a reminder to upload the video when I get home from work, as I'm running behind.

Have you tried contacting the dealer that made the repairs? Also, if you bought it used did you setup your mopar account and get them to transfer the vehicle into your name? You might start with those two things.

 

[Mud Pie]

I assume when you say "dealer" you mean an actual Jeep backed dealership and not a "Jimmy's Good Used Cars" type dealership ?

The reason I'm asking is the "no record of ownership" issue. I bought my '23 Freedom used from a non-Jeep dealer and took it the next day to my regular Jeep dealership for a once over inspection and oil change. The next day I went on my Jeep app, deleted my old Renegade and added the Gladiator. It came up with the entire history of the vehicle from day 1, all maintenance, including the inspection and oil change that I did from the day before.

I find your situation odd, because as soon as I pulled into the service area, they added my Gladiator to their records and asked if I still had the Renegade, I said no, and they removed it. When I told them I bought it used, they said they were going to go over it with a fine toothed comb to see if there was anything hidden. That one oil change took 3 hours, but it was worth it for the piece of mind.

 

[JeepCares]

I posted a couple months ago how I was going to the dealer who "repaired" the door seals, hood, all 4 doors, and the tailgate. I got the vehicle back at night with minimal lighting in their lot, the asst manager stayed so I could pick up after work knowing I lived about an hour or so away. It was also a cold, but dry wintery day for the record.

Fast forward to a couple weeks ago and I'm going the the same carwash I have since August last year, but now my front doors are leaking way worse than previously. I took video which I'll include, it's not pretty.

Fast forward to a couple days ago when we had hurricane type rains and flooding everywhere (my 8 acres became a creak completely overflowing, and we don't normally have flowing water above ground either). As I'm driving home in the rain that evening, every time I use the brakes, it's like someone turned on a hose into my front doors. I guarantee I took in at least 1/2 gal of water over 30 minutes of driving. My floor still has standing water in the carpets but won't drain/evaporate due to us having high humidity (3/4 of the year it rains/snows).

I called FCA while this was happening and they tried to tell me "your vehicle has never been physically in our dealer since you claimed you are the owner, and we've been trying to contact the person we have on file as the owner since we don't have you on file as the owner. Also you're vehicle is not under warranty so we can't help you".

They have no records of the dealer repairs this year, and continue to claim I'm not the owner, or have ever been to any dealers, or have a warranty which I do and multiple dealers have confirmed.


@JeepCares Is this reasonable? I need help as FCA is refusing to honor their parts/labor warranty to guarantee their work. I gave them my vehicle for failed repairs and they made those failed repair 10x worse. Now they're refusing to even work with me in a timely manner, and combined with my work schedule and their ridiculous requirement of leaving my ONLY vehicle with them for an unknown time, time they won't even be working on it or have parts to do said work while it's there...this is just not okay or LEGAL. They're violating their own T&C and federal laws. I don't have any mechanical issues but I COULD invoke the lemon law, but I really don't want to do that over leaking door due to multiple failed repair attempts by the SAME dealer, and failure to correct their other mistakes regard the body panels.

I set a reminder to upload the video when I get home from work, as I'm running behind.

Please PM us with these details, so we can look further into this for you. Thank you.

Gia
Jeep Cares

 

[Dilly’S Willy]

Have you tried contacting the dealer that made the repairs? Also, if you bought it used did you setup your mopar account and get them to transfer the vehicle into your name? You might start with those two things.

After 2 previous bad experiences there, I don't trust them to keep bsing me why they can't do things right the first time, let alone 3. And I need to make an account with someone just to prove I own something I have documents proving? Not with the privacy issues Stellantis has.

 

[Dilly’S Willy]

I assume when you say "dealer" you mean an actual Jeep backed dealership and not a "Jimmy's Good Used Cars" type dealership ?

The reason I'm asking is the "no record of ownership" issue. I bought my '23 Freedom used from a non-Jeep dealer and took it the next day to my regular Jeep dealership for a once over inspection and oil change. The next day I went on my Jeep app, deleted my old Renegade and added the Gladiator. It came up with the entire history of the vehicle from day 1, all maintenance, including the inspection and oil change that I did from the day before.

I find your situation odd, because as soon as I pulled into the service area, they added my Gladiator to their records and asked if I still had the Renegade, I said no, and they removed it. When I told them I bought it used, they said they were going to go over it with a fine toothed comb to see if there was anything hidden. That one oil change took 3 hours, but it was worth it for the piece of mind.

I bought it from a non-jeep dealer I've worked for a couple times in the past. They're a great family business. I've also since been to at least 2 Jeep dealers for warranty work and/or service since then too. There's no reason my VIN/owner status shouldn't be documented pretty well by this point.

When I call FCA/JeepWave/some dealers they even ask to verify who I am and have told me "that's not the info we have on file". This is just poor customer service and management, which I guess I should have known better than to expect better from FCA after decades of horror stories.

I hope JeepCares will be able to help correct this after we talk.

 

[Hootbro]

I don't have any mechanical issues but I COULD invoke the lemon law,

How you going to do that on a 5 model year old vehicle and not the original owner?

 

[Dilly’S Willy]

How you going to do that on a 5 model year old vehicle and not the original owner?

Warranties transfer, they don't stay with the original owner. I was well within the warranty of the repairs that were not done correctly. The GM of the dealer even got involved and remember this exact vehicle, the previous owner, and the issues they had with the two. There's plenty of documentation to get this corrected, corporate is just playing the games they do until they realize they got caught and own up.


You also have the FEDERAL Magnuson Moss Warranty Act and Lemon Laws which supersede state/local which is what many dealers focus on instead.


I just want my vehicle to be fixed correctly, not manhandled by some jerk who thinks they're above the law. You should have heard the excuses they tried and quickly realized I'm not the person to lie to.

 

[MaximusTX]

After 2 previous bad experiences there, I don't trust them to keep bsing me why they can't do things right the first time, let alone 3. And I need to make an account with someone just to prove I own something I have documents proving? Not with the privacy issues Stellantis has.

Just like you buy anything with a transferable warranty you have to transfer the warranty into your name. You bought a used jeep so as far as stellantis is concerned you are not the owner since you have not transferred it into your name. I had to do the same thing when I bought my JT. You have to contact Stellantis and prove that you are the new owner and then they transfer it into your name. In my case I created a mopar account and then opened a support ticket and sent over the requested documents and they transferred it into my name. Even when we bought my wifes used 392 from a jeep dealership we still had to do this as the dealership doesn't do this on used vehicles. The service department also doesn't do this either.

 

[Hootbro]

Warranties transfer, they don't stay with the original owner. I was well within the warranty of the repairs that were not done correctly. The GM of the dealer even got involved and remember this exact vehicle, the previous owner, and the issues they had with the two. There's plenty of documentation to get this corrected, corporate is just playing the games they do until they realize they got caught and own up.


You also have the FEDERAL Magnuson Moss Warranty Act and Lemon Laws which supersede state/local which is what many dealers focus on instead.


I just want my vehicle to be fixed correctly, not manhandled by some jerk who thinks they're above the law. You should have heard the excuses they tried and quickly realized I'm not the person to lie to.

That is all fine and dandy, but my quote is what you stated on invoking a lemon law which is adjacent to warranty but it's own thing.

Most states lemon laws are usually tied to the original owner and usually time limited to within the first year or two after new vehicle purchase and had multiple attempt repair criteria before invoking. 5+ year old vehicle on a second owner would not normally be a lemon law situation.

Hopefully JeepCares can do something for you but they are more miss than hit in actually being helpful .

Good Luck.

 

[Dilly’S Willy]

That is all fine and dandy, but my quote is what you stated on invoking a lemon law which is adjacent to warranty but it's own thing.

Most states lemon laws are usually tied to the original owner and usually time limited to within the first year or two after new vehicle purchase and had multiple attempt repair criteria before invoking. 5+ year old vehicle on a second owner would not normally be a lemon law situation.

Hopefully JeepCares can do something for you but they are more miss than hit in actually being helpful .

Good Luck.

IIRC the repairs were done less than 24 month/24k miles since the previous owner sold and I bought it, so the warranty on parts/labor were the minimum for claiming defects. That AND the fact the dealer which did the work remembers this vehicle and the situation it was in very clearly, and are trying to hide the fact the did shady things previously, even openly stating they didn't do the work completely/as required under warranty/policy.

Also the fact the shops know the new parts will continue to fail should be a huge red flag that this will become a lemon, and the dealer is backing on the fact of repair dates, which is also why they kept pushing out the repairs for weeks/months at a time, they knew the dates were coming up soon and didn't want to own up. I've got the service manager (their only service advisor too) and the GM on recording talking about these things so they're admitting guilt. They also admitted to working with the previous owner to bs the paperwork and get him out of the lease as fast as possible so they could trade it for a 4runner at the dealer I bought it from.

Had I known all this when I was looking at it originally, I would have NOT bought this VIN. That's the only reason I'm considering a lawsuit to get out of the loan, seemed too good to be true at the time.

 

[Hootbro]

Anything wrong with the vehicle as it sits now besides the door seals?

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